Responding to the news that Angolan TikToker Ana da Silva Miguel, also known as Neth Nahara, has now spent one year behind bars for criticizing President João Lourenço in a TikTok video, Amnesty International's Deputy Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, Vongai Chikwanda, said:
"Angolan authorities must immediately release Ana da Silva Miguel, aka Neth Nahara, as she marks the first anniversary of her arrest. Neth Nahara should never have been locked up in the first place.
The Angolan authorities are abusing the penal code to try to silence peaceful dissent.Vongai Chikwanda, Deputy Regional Director for East and Southern Africa
"Neth Nahara's conviction of committing an 'outrage against the state' is absurd, while her sentence was extended from six months to two years after a flawed appeals process. The Angolan authorities are abusing the penal code to try to silence peaceful dissent. Indeed, Angola's constitution explicitly protects free expression, which includes voicing political views on social media.
"Authorities must also release four other people who have been arbitrarily detained for more than ten months solely for the peaceful exercise of their human rights to protest and expression."
BACKGROUND
On 13 August 2023, authorities arrested Neth Nahara in her home in Angola's capital Luanda after she broadcast a live video on TikTok criticizing President Lourenço.
The next day, Angola's first stage court convicted her of an "outrage against the state, its symbols and bodies" under article 333 of Angola's penal code. The court sentenced her to six months in prison and fined her one million Kwanza, or approximately 1,200 USD.
Neth Nahara should never have been locked up in the first place.Vongai Chikwanda, Deputy Regional Director for East and Southern Africa
On 27 September, Angola's second stage court extended her sentence to two years on an appeal by the public prosecutor. The court did not allow Neth Nahara's lawyers to counter-appeal as legally prescribed and has not responded to their complaint over the flawed process.
During Neth Nahara's imprisonment, authorities denied her daily HIV medication for eight months.
Angolan authorities have repeatedly used article 333 of the penal code to justify arbitrary detention of critics. Four activists--Adolfo Campos, Hermenegildo Victor José AKA Gildo das Ruas, Abraão Pedro Santos AKA Pensador and Gilson Moreira AKA Tanaice Neutro--remain in prison after police apprehended them on 16 September 2023 after attempting to join a demonstration in Luanda.
